Another Take on the Cost of Developing New Drugs

February 21, 2012

In an column published last week by the Fiscal Times, Merrill Goozner questions the $4-12B per-approved-drug price tag proposed recently by Forbes columnist Matthew Herper.

Goozner, who has written a book on the subject, suggests the true cost of bringing one new drug to market is in the millions (about $250M as of 2004). His analysis treats R&D and post-marketing activities as costs of doing business in the pharmaceutical industry.